What factors should I consider before declaring a major in undergrad?

[Del Tachi]

1)  Choose something that genuinely interests you.  College is the only time in your life you'll be able to completely devote yourself to learning as much as you can about a specific subject.  Don't pass it up by choosing something only for the "career opportunities."

2)  All else being equal, choose to major in a department with good faculty who take interest in their (undergrad) students.  My experience at big, research-heavy state schools was that teaching undergrads was the lowest priority for most professors.  Graduate students will (correctly!) garner most of professors' time/resources, but look for majors that have good opportunities for undergrads to participate in research, internships, directed independent study, etc.

Unless you plan to go into a STEM field or be an accountant, your undergraduate major is not really that important.  A BS or BA in practically anything will serve you just fine for most entry-level jobs in business or government.  The secret to getting the entry-level job you want is using your time in college to get quantifiable experience (i.e., internships, volunteer work, part-time jobs, undergraduate research, etc.) and taking advantage of your college's faculty or alumni network.   

[Del Tachi]

1)  Choose something that genuinely interests you.  College is the only time in your life you'll be able to completely devote yourself to learning as much as you can about a specific subject.  Don't pass it up by choosing something only for the "career opportunities."

2)  All else being equal, choose to major in a department with good faculty who take interest in their (undergrad) students.  My experience at big, research-heavy state schools was that teaching undergrads was the lowest priority for most professors.  Graduate students will (correctly!) garner most of professors' time/resources, but look for majors that have good opportunities for undergrads to participate in research, internships, directed independent study, etc.

Unless you plan to go into a STEM field or be an accountant, your undergraduate major is not really that important.  A BS or BA in practically anything will serve you just fine for most entry-level jobs in business or government.  The secret to getting the entry-level job you want is using your time in college to get quantifiable experience (i.e., internships, volunteer work, part-time jobs, undergraduate research, etc.) and taking advantage of your college's faculty or alumni network.   

I agree with all of this, but with the caveat that there are plenty of majors that are just not worth any amount of money and time for you to put in. If you are considering a major that would find itself on most "most useless college degree" lists, I would say steer clear of that. I hate to offend anyone here, but I'll pick on a degree like communications. No one is passionate about communications specifically. Its just used as a generic degree that one would hope opens the door to all kinds of different jobs, but it really doesn't. I've seen close friends with a communications degree that have really struggled to standout to get any sort of enjoyable job with that degree.

Alternatively, if you aren't looking for the most lucrative field, find a substantive field that you think you could be extremely passionate about. Like, meteorology. I think its easier to sell yourself as someone who found a topic very interesting and how you chased your passions instead of "I studied communications because I really wanted to be able to handle communications in your field."

Bottom line: If you aren't going the STEM route, find an interesting niche field that you could get excited about rather than the boring, generic degree.

P.S. Try to avoid "______ studies" majors. I just don't see any benefit there at all unless you want to be a professor of that study.

Communications is a perfectly fine major for someone who wants to work in marketing, PR or journalism; attend law/business school; or is just genuinely interested in theories of how humans communicate.  Communications gets a bad rap because a lot of unmotived students choose it as an "easy" major but the subject is wholly more respectable than many more lauded majors.